Mindfulness and Self-Compassion for Teen ADHD: Build Executive Functioning Skills, Increase Motivation, and Improve Self-Confidence

by Mark Bertin MD, Karen Bluth PhD, Russell Barkley PhD (Foreword by)

Overview

A powerful and compassionate guide for cultivating self-confidence, independence, and the executive functioning skills you need to live your best life!

Being a teen with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) doesn’t stop you from wanting what almost every other teen wants: independence, good grades, and a healthy social life. But ADHD also presents obstacles that can keep you from reaching your goals. At times you may become frustrated, sad, or even angry at your inability to achieve the things you want. This book can help.

This unique guide will help you develop the skills you need to strengthen your executive functioning, foster the self-compassion essential to overcoming self-criticism often caused by ADHD, and gain the confidence and resilience necessary to take control of your ADHD—and your life. You’ll also learn how to manage your emotions, focus, practice flexible problem solving, change habits, and improve communication skills. Finally, you’ll learn how these skills can improve your relationships with friends and family, and help you succeed in school—and life!

Your ADHD doesn’t have to define you, and it certainly doesn’t have to determine your life. This book will allow you to step off the path of self-criticism, and guide you on the path toward self-compassion, self-confidence, and success.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781684036417
Publisher:	New Harbinger Publications
Publication date:	05/01/2021
Series:	Instant Help Solutions Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	192
File size:	6 MB
Age Range:	13 - 18 Years

About the Author

Mark Bertin, MD, is a developmental pediatrician in private practice in Pleasantville, NY. He is author of How Children Thrive and Mindful Parenting for ADHD, which integrate mindfulness into the rest of evidence-based pediatric care; and a contributing author for Teaching Mindfulness Skills to Kids and Teens. He is on faculty at New York Medical College and The Windward Institute, on advisory boards for Common Sense Media and Reach Out and Read, and on the board of directors for APSARD (the American Professional Society of ADHD and Related Disorders). His blog covering topics in child development, mindfulness, and family is available through PsychologyToday.com, Mindful.org, and elsewhere. For information about his online mindfulness classes and other resources, visit https://developmentaldoctor.com.

Karen Bluth, PhD, is on faculty in the department of psychiatry and a research fellow at Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she is founder of the Frank Porter Graham Program on Mindfulness and Self-Compassion for Families (https://selfcompassion.web.unc.edu). She is a certified instructor of Mindful Self-Compassion, an internationally acclaimed eight-week course created by Kristin Neff and Christopher Germer; and is a codeveloper of Self-Compassion for Educators, a self-compassion program offered through Mindful Schools.

Bluth is also cocreator of the curriculum Making Friends with Yourself: A Mindful Self-Compassion Program for Teens, the teen adaptation of Mindful Self-Compassion; and Embracing Your Life, the young adult adaptation. She is also author of The Self-Compassion Workbook for Teens and The Self-Compassionate Teen. As a mindfulness practitioner for more than forty years, a mindfulness teacher, and an educator with eighteen years of classroom teaching experience, Bluth frequently gives talks, conducts workshops, and teaches classes in self-compassion and mindfulness in educational and community settings. In addition, she trains teachers in Making Friends with Yourself internationally.

Table of Contents

Foreword vii

1 What Is ADHD Anyway? 1

2 Waking Up Your Sleepy Brain Manager 19

3 Developing Habits That Stick 39

4 Making Yourself Heard: Mastering Communication 61

5 Staying Calm While Dealing with Emotions 75

6 Navigating a Complicated Social World 87

7 Managing Time Before It Manages You 105

8 Succeeding at School with Less Stress 123

9 Taking Care of Your Health 141

10 Steering Yourself to the Future You Choose 163

Acknowledgments 169

Endnotes 171

Interviews

Bertin resides in Pleasantville, NY; Bluth resides in Carrboro, NC.

Editorial Reviews

This great book shares a bunch of good strategies for staying on top of the practical matters of ADHD, but more importantly, it will help you to live a happier life where you get to call more of the shots. Some of those frustrating ADHD challenges will remain, but a mindful approach will help you keep your head on and bring your best to those challenges.”
—Ari Tuckman, PsyD, author, international speaker, and ADHD expert

Ari Tuckman

Bertin and Bluth make mindfulness accessible, interesting, and even fun in their book, Mindfulness and Self-Compassion for Teen ADHD. It is written in a style that teens with ADHD can read thoroughly. The combination of Bertin and Bluth’s specializations make for an engaging book that covers the spectrum of teen experiences with ADHD. Their book is recommended for teens with ADHD, those that want to learn more about mindfulness, and clinicians who will appreciate this effective workbook.”
—Stephanie Moulton Sarkis, PhD, psychotherapist and author of Gaslighting (http://www.stephaniesarkis.com)

Stephanie Moulton Sarkis

This book is a treasure for any teen wanting to work more effectively with their ADHD. Using simple, easy-to-do, yet incredibly powerful exercises, young people will be able to use the resources of mindfulness and self-compassion to be calmer and more focused in daily life.”
—Kristin Neff, PhD, associate professor at The University of Texas at Austin

Kristin Neff

This is a gentle and effective workbook packed with important and practical information for teens with ADHD. Bertin and Bluth capture the most essential ingredients in leading a successful life with ADHD: acceptance and self-compassion. This book achieves an alchemy of scientific-driven information and friendly accessibility so that teens can approach this guide with openness, in the effort of being their most authentic and optimal selves.”
—Roberto Olivardia, PhD, clinical psychologist and lecturer in the department of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School

Roberto Olivardia

Mindfulness and self-compassion are a powerful formula for a happy and successful life. This book shows you easy ways to steady your mind, follow through on what you want to do, and quiet the critical voices in your head. It’s written by experts who know their stuff, but it’s best to trust your own experience. Give mindfulness and self-compassion a try, and see what happens.”
—Christopher Germer, PhD, part-time lecturer in the department of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and coauthor of The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook

Christopher Germer

2021-02-23
This selection from the Instant Help Solutions series addresses teens struggling with symptoms of ADHD.

The table of contents lists 10 chapters, from “What Is ADHD Anyway?” to “Steering Yourself to the Future You Choose.” The text is frank and supportive: Besides discussions of symptoms, strategies, and specific mindfulness and self-compassion exercises, each chapter includes quotations from young people ages 12 to 20 (whose names indicate some ethnic diversity) who briefly share their trials, triumphs, and insights. The book mentions that although the condition is permanent, symptoms can effectively be reduced through mindfulness and self-compassion training plus other supports and medication, which it describes as the most highly effective treatment for some aspects of ADHD. However, it stresses that medications typically do not help with organization or time management, two topics thoroughly covered in the book. The sample scenarios may speak most to adolescents with relatively nonserious concerns about school, friends, and family; alcohol and sex are only briefly mentioned. The exercises are terrific for all teens, whether they have ADHD or not, and are largely accessible without having to read the whole work. Downloadable audio assistance and worksheets are added bonuses. The authors, who address anxiety throughout, repeatedly use the tired metaphor of steering the wheel of a fossil-fuel–powered vehicle, an unfortunate choice given the prevalence of environmental anxiety in today’s young people. Dynamic art, uncredited, features silhouettes, often set against patterned backgrounds, that help break up the text.

Helpful strategies for tackling ADHD. (endnotes) (Self-help. 12-18)

Kirkus Reviews